Control component for segmented heating in an aerosol delivery device

ABSTRACT

An aerosol delivery device is provided that includes a segmented heater including a plurality of heating elements that are separately powerable to heat and thereby vaporize components of an aerosol precursor composition, and a control component for the segmented heater. The control component includes a logic circuit with a data input and a plurality of outputs each output of which is coupled to a respective one of the plurality of heating elements of the segmented heater. A processor produces and provides a logic signal including at least a high voltage level to the data input of the logic circuit and causes the logic circuit to provide the high voltage level at one or more outputs of the plurality of outputs of the logic circuit, and thereby powers respective one or more heating elements of the plurality of heating elements of the segmented heater to heat and thereby vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition.

TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to aerosol delivery devices such aselectronic cigarettes and heat-not-burn cigarettes. The aerosol deliverydevice may be configured to heat an aerosol precursor composition, whichmay be made or derived from tobacco or otherwise incorporate tobacco, toform an inhalable substance for human consumption.

BACKGROUND

Many smoking articles have been proposed through the years asimprovements upon, or alternatives to, smoking products based uponcombusting tobacco. Example alternatives have included devices wherein asolid or liquid fuel is combusted to transfer heat to tobacco or whereina chemical reaction is used to provide such heat source. Examplesinclude the smoking articles described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,078,473 toWorm et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.

The point of the improvements or alternatives to smoking articlestypically has been to provide the sensations associated with cigarette,cigar, or pipe smoking, without delivering considerable quantities ofincomplete combustion and pyrolysis products. To this end, there havebeen proposed numerous smoking products, flavor generators, andmedicinal inhalers which utilize electrical energy to vaporize or heat avolatile material, or attempt to provide the sensations of cigarette,cigar, or pipe smoking without burning tobacco to a significant degree.See, for example, the various alternative smoking articles, aerosoldelivery devices and heat generating sources set forth in the backgroundart described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,320 to Robinson et al., U.S. Pat.App. Pub. No. 2013/0255702 to Griffith, Jr. et al., and U.S. Pat. App.Pub. No. 2014/0096781 to Sears et al., which are incorporated herein byreference. See also, for example, the various types of smoking articles,aerosol delivery devices and electrically powered heat generatingsources referenced by brand name and commercial source in U.S. Pat. App.Pub. No. 2015/0220232 to Bless et al., which is incorporated herein byreference. Additional types of smoking articles, aerosol deliverydevices and electrically powered heat generating sources referenced bybrand name and commercial source are listed in U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No.2015/0245659 to DePiano et al., which is also incorporated herein byreference. Other representative cigarettes or smoking articles that havebeen described and, in some instances, been made commercially availableinclude those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,217 to Gerth et al., U.S.Pat. Nos. 4,922,901, 4,947,874, and 4,947,875 to Brooks et al., U.S.Pat. No. 5,060,671 to Counts et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,586 to Morganet al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,594 to Counts et al., U.S. Pat. No.5,666,977 to Higgins et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,176 to Adams et al.,U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,287 to White, U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,218 to Voges, U.S.Pat. No. 6,810,883 to Felter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,461 to Nichols,U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,410 to Hon, U.S. Pat. No. 7,513,253 to Kobayashi,U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,320 to Robinson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,896,006 toHamano, U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,756 to Shayan, U.S. Pat. Pub. No.2009/0095311 to Hon, U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2006/0196518, 2009/0126745, and2009/0188490 to Hon, U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0272379 to Thorens et al.,U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2009/0260641 and 2009/0260642 to Monsees et al.,U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2008/0149118 and 2010/0024834 to Oglesby et al.,U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010/0307518 to Wang, and PCT Pat. App. Pub. No. WO2010/091593 to Hon, which are incorporated herein by reference.

Representative products that resemble many of the attributes oftraditional types of cigarettes, cigars or pipes have been marketed asACCORD® by Philip Morris Incorporated, ALPHA™, JOVE 510™ and M4™ byInnoVapor LLC, CIRRUS™ and FLING™ by White Cloud Cigarettes, BLU™ byFontem Ventures B.V., COHITA™, COLIBRI™, ELITE CLASSIC™, MAGNUM™,PHANTOM™ and SENSE™ by EPUFFER® International Inc., DUOPRO™, STORM™ andVAPORKING® by Electronic Cigarettes, Inc., EGAR™ by Egar Australia,eGo-C™ and eGo-T™ by Joyetech, ELUSION™ by Elusion UK Ltd, EONSMOKE® byEonsmoke LLC, FIN™ by FIN Branding Group, LLC, SMOKE® by Green SmokeInc. USA, GREENARETTE™ by Greenarette LLC, HALLIGAN™, HENDU™ JET™,MAXXQ™ PINK™ and PITBULL™ by SMOKE STIK®, HEATBAR™ and IQOS™ by PhilipMorris International, Inc., HYDRO IMPERIAL™ and LXE™ from Crown7, LOGIC™and THE CUBAN™ by LOGIC Technology, LUCI® by Luciano Smokes Inc., METRO®by Nicotek, LLC, NJOY® and ONEJOY™ by Sottera, Inc., NO. 7™ by SS ChoiceLLC, PREMIUM ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE™ by PremiumEstore LLC, RAPP E-MYSTICK™by Ruyan America, Inc., RED DRAGON™ by Red Dragon Products, LLC, RUYAN®by Ruyan Group (Holdings) Ltd., SF® by Smoker Friendly International,LLC, GREEN SMART SMOKER® by The Smart Smoking Electronic CigaretteCompany Ltd., SMOKE ASSIST® by Coastline Products LLC, SMOKINGEVERYWHERE® by Smoking Everywhere, Inc., V2CIGS™ by VMR Products LLC,VAPOR NINE™ by VaporNine LLC, VAPOR4LIFE® by Vapor 4 Life, Inc., VEPPO™by E-CigaretteDirect, LLC, VUSE® by R. J. Reynolds Vapor Company, MisticMenthol product by Mistic Ecigs, the Vype product by CN Creative Ltd.,and GLO™ by British American Tobacco. Yet other electrically poweredaerosol delivery devices, and in particular those devices that have beencharacterized as so-called electronic cigarettes, have been marketedunder the tradenames COOLER VISIONS™, DIRECT E-CIG™ DRAGONFLY™, EMIST™,EVERSMOKE™, GAMUCCI®, HYBRID FLAME™, KNIGHT STICKS™, ROYAL BLUES™,SMOKETIP®, SOUTH BEACH SMOKE™.

However, it may be desirable to provide aerosol delivery devices withimproved electronics such as may extend usability of the devices.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to aerosol delivery devices configured toproduce aerosol and which aerosol delivery devices, in someimplementations, may be referred to as electronic cigarettes orheat-not-burn cigarettes. The present disclosure includes, withoutlimitation, the following example implementations.

Some example implementations provide an aerosol delivery devicecomprising a housing structured to retain an aerosol precursorcomposition; a segmented heater including a plurality of heatingelements that are separately powerable to heat and thereby vaporizecomponents of the aerosol precursor composition; and a control componentcoupled to and configured to separately, controllably power theplurality of heating elements of the segmented heater, the controlcomponent including: a logic circuit coupled to the segmented heater,the logic circuit including a data input and a plurality of outputs eachoutput of which is coupled to a respective one of the plurality ofheating elements of the segmented heater; and a processor configured toproduce a logic signal as a waveform that switches between a highvoltage level and a low voltage level that represent respectively afirst value and a second value, the processor being coupled andconfigured to provide the logic signal including at least the firstvalue to the data input of the logic circuit and cause the logic circuitto provide the first value and thereby the high voltage level at one ormore outputs of the plurality of outputs of the logic circuit, andthereby power respective one or more heating elements of the pluralityof heating elements of the segmented heater to heat and thereby vaporizecomponents of the aerosol precursor composition, any other heatingelements of the plurality of heating elements being simultaneouslyunpowered.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the aerosol precursor composition is a liquid,or a solid or semi-solid.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the plurality of heating elements are aplurality of electrically-conductive prongs that are physically separateand spaced apart from one another.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the aerosol precursor composition is a solid orsemi-solid, and the plurality of electrically-conductive prongs arephysically separate and spaced apart lengthwise along the solid orsemi-solid.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the logic circuit is a demultiplexer includingthe data input and the plurality of outputs, and further including oneor more selection inputs, and wherein the processor is further coupledto the one or more selection inputs and configured to select via the oneor more selection inputs the one or more outputs of the demultiplexerand thereby cause the demultiplexer to provide the first value andthereby the high voltage level at the one or more outputs.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the processor is configured to select no morethan one of the one or more outputs and thereby cause the demultiplexerto provide the first value and thereby the high voltage level at no morethan one of the one or more outputs.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the first value and the second value arerespective binary values, the plurality of heating elements are Nheating elements arranged in a sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, and theprocessor being configured to select the one or more outputs includesbeing configured to provide binary numbers 2^(n) in the sequence n=1, 2,3, . . . N to the one or more selection inputs and thereby selectindividual ones of the plurality of outputs in the sequence and each fora defined time interval.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the logic circuit is a latched serial-inparallel-out (SIPO) shift register, and wherein the logic signalrepresents digits each of which has the first value or the second value,and the processor being configured to provide the logic signal includesbeing configured to provide the digits serially to the data input, thelatched SIPO shift register being responsive and thereby caused tosimultaneously provide the digits in parallel at the plurality ofoutputs, including one or more of the digits having the first value andthereby the high voltage level being provided at the one or moreoutputs.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the digits that the latched SIPO shift registeris responsive to simultaneously provide in parallel include no more thanone digit having the first value.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the digits are bits each of which has the firstvalue or the second value that are respective binary values, theplurality of heating elements are N heating elements arranged in asequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, and the processor being configured toprovide the digits includes being configured to provide the bitsrepresenting binary numbers 2^(n) in series and the sequence n=1, 2, 3,. . . N, each for a defined time interval.

In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of anypreceding example implementation, or any combination of any precedingexample implementations, the aerosol delivery device further comprises asensor coupled to the plurality of outputs and configured to measurevoltage or current to heating elements of the plurality of heatingelements of the segmented heater.

Some example implementations provide a method of controlling an aerosoldelivery device including a housing structured to retain an aerosolprecursor composition, a segmented heater including a plurality ofheating elements that are separately powerable to heat and therebyvaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition, the methodcomprising producing a logic signal as a waveform that switches betweena high voltage level and a low voltage level that represent respectivelya first value and a second value; providing the logic signal includingat least the first value to a data input of a logic circuit includingthe data input and a plurality of outputs each output of which iscoupled to a respective one of the plurality of heating elements of thesegmented heater; and causing the logic circuit to provide the firstvalue and thereby the high voltage level at one or more outputs of theplurality of outputs of the logic circuit, and thereby poweringrespective one or more heating elements of the plurality of heatingelements of the segmented heater to heat and thereby vaporize componentsof the aerosol precursor composition, any other heating elements of theplurality of heating elements being simultaneously unpowered.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, powering respective one or more heating elementsincludes powering respective one or more heating elements to heat andthereby vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition that isa liquid, or a solid or semi-solid.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, powering respective one or more heating elementsincludes powering respective one or more heating elements of theplurality of heating elements that are a plurality ofelectrically-conductive prongs that are physically separate and spacedapart from one another.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, powering respective one or more heating elementsincludes powering respective one or more heating elements to heat andthereby vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition that isa solid or semi-solid, and the plurality of electrically-conductiveprongs are physically separate and spaced apart lengthwise along thesolid or semi-solid.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, the logic circuit is a demultiplexer including the datainput and the plurality of outputs, and further including one or moreselection inputs, and wherein the method further comprises selecting viathe one or more selection inputs the one or more outputs of the logiccircuit and thereby causing the logic circuit to provide the first valueand thereby the high voltage level at the one or more outputs.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, selecting the one or more outputs includes selecting nomore than one of the one or more outputs and thereby causing the logiccircuit to provide the first value and thereby the high voltage level atno more than one of the one or more outputs.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, the first value and the second value are respectivebinary values, the plurality of heating elements are N heating elementsarranged in a sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, and selecting the one or moreoutputs includes providing binary numbers 2^(n) in the sequence n=1, 2,3, . . . N to the one or more selection inputs and thereby selectingindividual ones of the plurality of outputs in the sequence and each fora defined time interval.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, the logic circuit is a latched serial-in parallel-out(SIPO) shift register, and wherein the logic signal represents digitseach of which has the first value or the second value, and providing thelogic signal includes providing the digits serially to the data input,the latched SIPO shift register being responsive and thereby caused tosimultaneously provide the digits in parallel at the plurality ofoutputs, including one or more of the digits having the first value andthereby the high voltage level being provided at the one or moreoutputs.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, the digits that the latched SIPO shift register isresponsive to simultaneously provide in parallel include no more thanone digit having the first value.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding exampleimplementation, or any combination of any preceding exampleimplementations, the digits are bits each of which has the first valueor the second value that are respective binary values, the plurality ofheating elements are N heating elements arranged in a sequence n=1, 2,3, . . . N, and providing the digits includes providing the bitsrepresenting numbers 2^(n) in series and the sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . .N, each for a defined time interval.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be apparent from a reading of the following detaileddescription together with the accompanying drawings, which are brieflydescribed below. The present disclosure includes any combination of two,three, four or more features or elements set forth in this disclosure,regardless of whether such features or elements are expressly combinedor otherwise recited in a specific example implementation describedherein. This disclosure is intended to be read holistically such thatany separable features or elements of the disclosure, in any of itsaspects and example implementations, should be viewed as combinable,unless the context of the disclosure clearly dictates otherwise.

It will therefore be appreciated that this Brief Summary is providedmerely for purposes of summarizing some example implementations so as toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure.Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above described exampleimplementations are merely examples and should not be construed tonarrow the scope or spirit of the disclosure in any way. Other exampleimplementations, aspects and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, theprinciples of some described example implementations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

Having thus described the disclosure in the foregoing general terms,reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a perspective view of an aerosol deliverydevice comprising a control body and an aerosol source member that arerespectively coupled to one another and decoupled from one another,according to another example implementation of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate respectively a front view of and a sectionalview through the aerosol delivery device of FIGS. 1 and 2, according toan example implementation;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are circuit diagrams of aerosol delivery devicesaccording to various example implementations of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrate voltages at outputs of a serial-in parallel-out (SIPO)shift register for a sequence of eight bit values; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating various operations in a method ofcontrolling an aerosol delivery device including a housing structured toretain an aerosol precursor composition, according to various exampleimplementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to example implementations thereof. These exampleimplementations are described so that this disclosure will be thoroughand complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to thoseskilled in the art. Indeed, the disclosure may be embodied in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theimplementations set forth herein; rather, these implementations areprovided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legalrequirements. As used in the specification and the appended claims, thesingular forms “a,” “an,” “the” and the like include plural referentsunless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, while reference maybe made herein to quantitative measures, values, geometric relationshipsor the like, unless otherwise stated, any one or more if not all ofthese may be absolute or approximate to account for acceptablevariations that may occur, such as those due to engineering tolerancesor the like.

As described hereinafter, example implementations of the presentdisclosure relate to aerosol delivery devices. Aerosol delivery devicesaccording to the present disclosure use electrical energy to heat amaterial (preferably without combusting the material to any significantdegree) to form an inhalable substance; and components of such systemshave the form of articles most preferably are sufficiently compact to beconsidered hand-held devices. That is, use of components of preferredaerosol delivery devices does not result in the production of smoke inthe sense that aerosol results principally from by-products ofcombustion or pyrolysis of tobacco, but rather, use of those preferredsystems results in the production of vapors resulting fromvolatilization or vaporization of certain components incorporatedtherein. In some example implementations, components of aerosol deliverydevices may be characterized as electronic cigarettes, and thoseelectronic cigarettes most preferably incorporate tobacco and/orcomponents derived from tobacco, and hence deliver tobacco derivedcomponents in aerosol form.

Aerosol generating pieces of certain preferred aerosol delivery devicesmay provide many of the sensations (e.g., inhalation and exhalationrituals, types of tastes or flavors, organoleptic effects, physicalfeel, use rituals, visual cues such as those provided by visibleaerosol, and the like) of smoking a cigarette, cigar or pipe that isemployed by lighting and burning tobacco (and hence inhaling tobaccosmoke), without any substantial degree of combustion of any componentthereof. For example, the user of an aerosol delivery device inaccordance with example implementations of the present disclosure canhold and use that piece much like a smoker employs a traditional type ofsmoking article, draw on one end of that piece for inhalation of aerosolproduced by that piece, take or draw puffs at selected intervals oftime, and the like.

While the systems are generally described herein in terms ofimplementations associated with aerosol delivery devices such asso-called “e-cigarettes,” “tobacco heating products” and the like(generally referred to as e-cigarettes), it should be understood thatthe mechanisms, components, features, and methods may be embodied inmany different forms and associated with a variety of articles. Forexample, the description provided herein may be employed in conjunctionwith implementations of traditional smoking articles (e.g., cigarettes,cigars, pipes, etc.), heat-not-burn cigarettes, and related packagingfor any of the products disclosed herein. Accordingly, it should beunderstood that the description of the mechanisms, components, features,and methods disclosed herein are discussed in terms of implementationsrelating to aerosol delivery devices by way of example only, and may beembodied and used in various other products and methods.

Aerosol delivery devices of the present disclosure also can becharacterized as being vapor-producing articles or medicament deliveryarticles. Thus, such articles or devices can be adapted so as to provideone or more substances (e.g., flavors and/or pharmaceutical activeingredients) in an inhalable form or state. For example, inhalablesubstances can be substantially in the form of a vapor (i.e., asubstance that is in the gas phase at a temperature lower than itscritical point). Alternatively, inhalable substances can be in the formof an aerosol (i.e., a suspension of fine solid particles or liquiddroplets in a gas). For purposes of simplicity, the term “aerosol” asused herein is meant to include vapors, gases and aerosols of a form ortype suitable for human inhalation, whether or not visible, and whetheror not of a form that might be considered to be smoke-like.

In use, aerosol delivery devices of the present disclosure may besubjected to many of the physical actions employed by an individual inusing a traditional type of smoking article (e.g., a cigarette, cigar orpipe that is employed by lighting and inhaling tobacco). For example,the user of an aerosol delivery device of the present disclosure canhold that article much like a traditional type of smoking article, drawon one end of that article for inhalation of aerosol produced by thatarticle, take puffs at selected intervals of time, etc.

Aerosol delivery devices of the present disclosure generally include anumber of components provided within an outer housing, which may bereferred to as a body or shell. The overall design of the housing canvary, and the format or configuration of the housing that can define theoverall size and shape of the aerosol delivery device can vary.Typically, an elongated body resembling the shape of a cigarette orcigar can be a formed from a single, unitary housing or the elongatedhousing can be formed of two or more separable bodies. For example, anaerosol delivery device can comprise an elongated housing that can besubstantially tubular in shape and, as such, resemble the shape of aconventional cigarette or cigar. In one example, all of the componentsof the aerosol delivery device are contained within one housing.Alternatively, an aerosol delivery device can comprise two or morehousings that are joined and are separable. For example, an aerosoldelivery device can possess at one end a control body comprising ahousing containing one or more reusable components (e.g., an accumulatorsuch as a rechargeable battery, solid-state battery (SSB) and/orrechargeable supercapacitor, and various electronics for controlling theoperation of that article), and at the other end and removablycoupleable thereto, an outer body or shell containing a disposableportion (e.g., a disposable flavor-containing cartridge). More specificformats, configurations and arrangements of components within the singlehousing type of unit or within a multi-piece separable housing type ofunit will be evident in light of the further disclosure provided herein.Additionally, various aerosol delivery device designs and componentarrangements can be appreciated upon consideration of the commerciallyavailable electronic aerosol delivery devices. It will be appreciatedthat alternative non-tubular housing form factors can also be used,including, for example, device housings having a shape and sizegenerally approximating a pack of cigarettes and form factors such asused on the GLO™ by British American Tobacco and IQOS™ by Philip MorrisInternational, Inc.

Aerosol delivery devices of the present disclosure most preferablycomprise some combination of a power source (i.e., an electrical powersource), at least one control component (e.g., means for actuating,controlling, regulating and ceasing power for heat generation, such asby controlling electrical current flow from the power source to othercomponents of the aerosol delivery device), at least one heating element(e.g., an electrical resistance or induction heating element orcomponent(s), commonly referred to as part of an “atomizer” whenimplemented in an aerosol delivery device configured to atomize a liquidaerosol precursor composition), and an aerosol precursor composition(e.g., a solid tobacco material, a semi-solid tobacco material or aliquid aerosol precursor composition), and a mouth end region or tip forallowing draw upon the aerosol delivery device for aerosol inhalation(e.g., a defined airflow path through the article such that aerosolgenerated can be withdrawn therefrom upon draw).

Alignment of the components within the aerosol delivery device of thepresent disclosure can vary. In specific implementations, the aerosolprecursor composition can be located near an end of the aerosol deliverydevice which may be configured to be positioned proximal to the mouth ofa user so as to maximize aerosol delivery to the user. Otherconfigurations, however, are not excluded. Generally, the heatingelement may be positioned sufficiently near the aerosol precursorcomposition so that heat from the heating element can volatilize theaerosol precursor (as well as one or more flavorants, medicaments, orthe like that may likewise be provided for delivery to a user) and forman aerosol for delivery to the user. When the heating element heats theaerosol precursor composition, an aerosol is formed, released, orgenerated in a physical form suitable for inhalation by a consumer. Itshould be noted that the foregoing terms are meant to be interchangeablesuch that reference to release, releasing, releases, or releasedincludes form or generate, forming or generating, forms or generates,and formed or generated. Specifically, an inhalable substance isreleased in the form of a vapor or aerosol or mixture thereof, whereinsuch terms are also interchangeably used herein except where otherwisespecified.

As noted above, the aerosol delivery device may incorporate a battery,SSB or other power source to provide current flow sufficient to providevarious functionalities to the aerosol delivery device, such as poweringof at least one heating element, powering of control systems, poweringof indicators, and the like. The power source can take on variousimplementations. Preferably, the power source is able to deliversufficient power to rapidly activate the heating element to provide foraerosol formation and power the aerosol delivery device through use fora desired duration of time. The power source preferably is sized to fitconveniently within the aerosol delivery device so that the aerosoldelivery device can be easily handled. Additionally, a preferred powersource is of a sufficiently light weight to not detract from a desirablesmoking experience.

More specific formats, configurations and arrangements of componentswithin the aerosol delivery device of the present disclosure will beevident in light of the further disclosure provided hereinafter.Additionally, the selection of various aerosol delivery devicecomponents can be appreciated upon consideration of the commerciallyavailable electronic aerosol delivery devices. Further, the arrangementof the components within the aerosol delivery device can also beappreciated upon consideration of the commercially available electronicaerosol delivery devices.

As described hereinafter, the present disclosure relates to aerosoldelivery devices. Aerosol delivery devices may be configured to heat anaerosol precursor composition (sometimes referred to as an inhalablesubstance medium) to produce an aerosol (an inhalable substance). Theaerosol precursor composition may comprise one or more of a solidtobacco material, a semi-solid tobacco material, and a liquid aerosolprecursor composition. In some implementations, the aerosol deliverydevices may be configured to heat and produce an aerosol from a fluidaerosol precursor composition (e.g., a liquid aerosol precursorcomposition). Such aerosol delivery devices may include so-calledelectronic cigarettes.

Representative types of liquid aerosol precursor components andformulations are set forth and characterized in U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,320to Robinson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 9,254,002 to Chong et al., and U.S.Pat. App. Pub. Nos. 2013/0008457 to Zheng et al., 2015/0020823 toLipowicz et al., and 2015/0020830 to Koller, as well as PCT Pat. App.Pub. No. WO 2014/182736 to Bowen et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 8,881,737 toCollett et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference. Other aerosol precursors that may be employed include theaerosol precursors that have been incorporated in any of a number of therepresentative products identified above. Also desirable are theso-called “smoke juices” for electronic cigarettes that have beenavailable from Johnson Creek Enterprises LLC. Implementations ofeffervescent materials can be used with the aerosol precursor, and aredescribed, by way of example, in U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2012/0055494 toHunt et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. Further, the useof effervescent materials is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.4,639,368 to Niazi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,878 to Wehling et al.,U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,264 to Wehling et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,590 toPather et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,381,667 to Bergquist et al., U.S. Pat.No. 8,424,541 to Crawford et al, U.S. Pat. No. 8,627,828 to Stricklandet al., and U.S. Pat. No. 9,307,787 to Sun et al., as well as U.S. Pat.App. Pub. Nos. 2010/0018539 to Brinkley et al., and PCT Pat. App. Pub.No. WO 97/06786 to Johnson et al., all of which are incorporated byreference herein.

Representative types of substrates, reservoirs or other components forsupporting the aerosol precursor are described in U.S. Pat. No.8,528,569 to Newton, U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2014/0261487 to Chapman etal., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2015/0059780 to Davis et al., and U.S. Pat.App. Pub. No. 2015/0216232 to Bless et al., all of which areincorporated herein by reference. Additionally, various wickingmaterials, and the configuration and operation of those wickingmaterials within certain types of electronic cigarettes, are set forthin U.S. Pat. No. 8,910,640 to Sears et al., which is incorporated hereinby reference.

In other implementations, the aerosol delivery devices may compriseheat-not-burn devices, configured to heat a solid aerosol precursorcomposition (e.g., an extruded tobacco rod) or a semi-solid aerosolprecursor composition (e.g., a glycerin-loaded tobacco paste). Theaerosol precursor composition may comprise tobacco-containing beads,tobacco shreds, tobacco strips, reconstituted tobacco material, orcombinations thereof, and/or a mix of finely ground tobacco, tobaccoextract, spray dried tobacco extract, or other tobacco form mixed withoptional inorganic materials (such as calcium carbonate), optionalflavors, and aerosol forming materials to form a substantially solid ormoldable (e.g., extrudable) substrate. Representative types of solid andsemi-solid aerosol precursor compositions and formulations are disclosedin U.S. Pat. No. 8,424,538 to Thomas et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,464,726 toSebastian et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2015/0083150 to Conner et al.,U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2015/0157052 to Ademe et al., and U.S. Pat. App.Pub. No. 2017/0000188 to Nordskog et al., all of which are incorporatedby reference herein. Further representative types of solid andsemi-solid aerosol precursor compositions and arrangements include thosefound in the NEOSTIKS™ consumable aerosol source members for the GLO™product by British American Tobacco and in the HEETS™ consumable aerosolsource members for the IQOS™ product by Philip Morris International,Inc.

In various implementations, the inhalable substance specifically may bea tobacco component or a tobacco-derived material (i.e., a material thatis found naturally in tobacco that may be isolated directly from thetobacco or synthetically prepared). For example, the aerosol precursorcomposition may comprise tobacco extracts or fractions thereof combinedwith an inert substrate. The aerosol precursor composition may furthercomprise unburned tobacco or a composition containing unburned tobaccothat, when heated to a temperature below its combustion temperature,releases an inhalable substance. In some implementations, the aerosolprecursor composition may comprise tobacco condensates or fractionsthereof (i.e., condensed components of the smoke produced by thecombustion of tobacco, leaving flavors and, possibly, nicotine).

Tobacco materials useful in the present disclosure can vary and mayinclude, for example, flue-cured tobacco, burley tobacco, Orientaltobacco or Maryland tobacco, dark tobacco, dark-fired tobacco andRustica tobaccos, as well as other rare or specialty tobaccos, or blendsthereof. Tobacco materials also can include so-called “blended” formsand processed forms, such as processed tobacco stems (e.g., cut-rolledor cut-puffed stems), volume expanded tobacco (e.g., puffed tobacco,such as dry ice expanded tobacco (DIET), preferably in cut filler form),reconstituted tobaccos (e.g., reconstituted tobaccos manufactured usingpaper-making type or cast sheet type processes). Various representativetobacco types, processed types of tobaccos, and types of tobacco blendsare set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,224 to Lawson et al., U.S. Pat. No.4,924,888 to Perfetti et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,537 to Brown et al.,U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,942 to Brinkley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,930 toGentry, U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,023 to Blakley et al., U.S. Pat. No.6,701,936 to Shafer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,011,096 to Li et al., andU.S. Pat. No. 7,017,585 to Li et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,066 to Lawsonet al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2004/0255965 to Perfetti et al., PCTPat. App. Pub. No. WO 02/37990 to Bereman, and Bombick et al., Fund.Appl. Toxicol., 39, p. 11-17 (1997), which are incorporated herein byreference. Further example tobacco compositions that may be useful in asmoking device, including according to the present disclosure, aredisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,320 to Robinson et al., which isincorporated herein by reference.

Still further, the aerosol precursor composition may comprise an inertsubstrate having the inhalable substance, or a precursor thereof,integrated therein or otherwise deposited thereon. For example, a liquidcomprising the inhalable substance may be coated on or absorbed oradsorbed into the inert substrate such that, upon application of heat,the inhalable substance is released in a form that can be withdrawn fromthe inventive article through application of positive or negativepressure. In some aspects, the aerosol precursor composition maycomprise a blend of flavorful and aromatic tobaccos in cut filler form.In another aspect, the aerosol precursor composition may comprise areconstituted tobacco material, such as described in U.S. Pat. No.4,807,809 to Pryor et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,143 to Pryor et al. andU.S. Pat. No. 5,025,814 to Raker, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference. For further information regardingsuitable aerosol precursor composition, see U.S. patent application Ser.No. 15/916,834 to Sur et al., filed Mar. 9, 2018, which is incorporatedherein by reference.

Regardless of the type of aerosol precursor composition heated, aerosoldelivery devices may include at least one heating element configured toheat the aerosol precursor composition. In some implementations, theheating element is an induction heater. Such heaters often comprise aninduction transmitter and an induction receiver. The inductiontransmitter may include a coil configured to create an oscillatingmagnetic field (e.g., a magnetic field that varies periodically withtime) when alternating current is directed through it. The inductionreceiver may be at least partially received within the inductiontransmitter and may include a conductive material. By directingalternating current through the induction transmitter, eddy currents maybe generated in the induction receiver via induction. The eddy currentsflowing through the resistance of the material defining the inductionreceiver may heat it by Joule heating (i.e., through the Joule effect).The induction receiver, which may define an atomizer, may be wirelesslyheated to form an aerosol from an aerosol precursor compositionpositioned in proximity to the induction receiver. Variousimplementations of an aerosol delivery device with an induction heaterare described in U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2017/0127722 to Davis et al.,U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2017/0202266 to Sur et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/352,153 to Sur et al., filed Nov. 15, 2016, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/799,365 to Sebastian et al., filed Oct.31, 2017, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/836,086 to Sur, all ofwhich are incorporated by reference herein.

In other implementations including those described more particularlyherein, the heating element is a conductive heater such as in the caseof electrical resistance heater. These heaters may be configured toproduce heat when an electrical current is directed through it. Invarious implementations, a conductive heater may be provided in avariety forms, such as in the form of a foil, a foam, discs, spirals,fibers, wires, films, yarns, strips, ribbons or cylinders. Such heatersoften include a metal material and are configured to produce heat as aresult of the electrical resistance associated with passing anelectrical current through it. Such resistive heaters may be positionedin proximity to and heat an aerosol precursor composition to produce anaerosol. A variety of conductive substrates that may be usable with thepresent disclosure are described in the above-cited U.S. Pat. App. Pub.No. 2013/0255702 to Griffith et al.

In some implementations aerosol delivery devices may include a controlbody and a cartridge in the case of so-called electronic cigarettes, ora control body and an aerosol source member in the case of heat-not-burndevices. In the case of either electronic cigarettes or heat-not-burndevices, the control body may be reusable, whereas the cartridge/aerosolsource member may be configured for a limited number of uses and/orconfigured to be disposable. The cartridge/aerosol source member mayinclude the aerosol precursor composition. In order to heat the aerosolprecursor composition, the heating element may be positioned in contactwith or proximate the aerosol precursor composition, such as across thecontrol body and cartridge, or in the control body in which the aerosolsource member may be positioned. The control body may include a powersource, which may be rechargeable or replaceable, and thereby thecontrol body may be reused with multiple cartridges/aerosol sourcemembers.

The control body may also include means to activate the aerosol deliverydevice such as a pushbutton, touch-sensitive surface or the like formanual control of the device. Additionally or alternatively, the controlbody may include a flow sensor to detect when a user draws on thecartridge/aerosol source member to thereby activate the aerosol deliverydevice.

In various implementations, the aerosol delivery device according to thepresent disclosure may have a variety of overall shapes, including, butnot limited to an overall shape that may be defined as beingsubstantially rod-like or substantially tubular shaped or substantiallycylindrically shaped. In the implementations shown in and described withreference to the accompanying figures, the aerosol delivery device has asubstantially round cross-section; however, other cross-sectional shapes(e.g., oval, square, triangle, etc.) also are encompassed by the presentdisclosure. Such language that is descriptive of the physical shape ofthe article may also be applied to the individual components thereof,including the control body and the cartridge/aerosol source member. Inother implementations, the control body may take another handheld shape,such as a small box shape.

In more specific implementations, one or both of the control body andthe cartridge/aerosol source member may be referred to as beingdisposable or as being reusable. For example, the control body may havea power source such as a replaceable battery or a rechargeable battery,SSB, thin-film SSB, rechargeable supercapacitor or the like. One exampleof a power source is a TKI-1550 rechargeable lithium-ion batteryproduced by Tadiran Batteries GmbH of Germany. In anotherimplementation, a useful power source may be a N50-AAA CADNICAnickel-cadmium cell produced by Sanyo Electric Company, Ltd., of Japan.In other implementations, a plurality of such batteries, for exampleproviding 1.2-volts each, may be connected in series. In some examples,then, the power source may be combined with any type of rechargingtechnology, including connection to a wall charger, connection to a carcharger (i.e., cigarette lighter receptacle), and connection to acomputer, such as through a universal serial bus (USB) cable orconnector (e.g., USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, USB Type-C), connection to aphotovoltaic cell (sometimes referred to as a solar cell) or solar panelof solar cells, or wireless chargers such as those that are radiofrequency (RF) based, inductive and the like. Further, in someimplementations in the case of an electronic cigarette, the cartridgemay comprise a single-use cartridge, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.8,910,639 to Chang et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.

Examples of power sources are described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,484,155 toPeckerar et al., and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2017/0112191 to Sur et al.,filed Oct. 21, 2015, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference. With respect to the flow sensor, representative currentregulating components and other current controlling components includingvarious microcontrollers, sensors, and switches for aerosol deliverydevices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,217 to Gerth et al., U.S.Pat. Nos. 4,922,901, 4,947,874, and 4,947,875, all to Brooks et al.,U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,148 to McCafferty et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,560 toFleischhauer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,314 to Nguyen et al., U.S. Pat.No. 8,205,622 to Pan, U.S. Pat. No. 8,881,737 to Collet et al., U.S.Pat. No. 9,423,152 to Ampolini et al., U.S. Pat. No. 9,439,454 toFernando et al., and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2015/0257445 to Henry etal., all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

As indicated above, the aerosol delivery device may include at least onecontrol component. A suitable control component may include a number ofelectronic components, and in some examples may be formed of a printedcircuit board (PCB). In some examples, the electronic components includeprocessing circuitry configured to perform data processing, applicationexecution, or other processing, control or management services accordingto one or more example implementations. The processing circuitry mayinclude a processor embodied in a variety of forms such as at least oneprocessor core, microprocessor, coprocessor, controller, microcontrolleror various other computing or processing devices including one or moreintegrated circuits such as, for example, an ASIC (application specificintegrated circuit), an FPGA (field programmable gate array), somecombination thereof, or the like. In some examples, the processingcircuitry may include memory coupled to or integrated with theprocessor, and which may store data, computer program instructionsexecutable by the processor, some combination thereof, or the like.

In some examples, the control component may include one or moreinput/output peripherals, which may be coupled to or integrated with theprocessing circuitry. More particularly, the control component mayinclude a communication interface to enable wireless communication withone or more networks, computing devices or other appropriately-enableddevices. Examples of suitable communication interfaces are disclosed inU.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2016/0261020 to Marion et al., the content ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference. Another example of a suitablecommunication interface is the CC3200 single chip wirelessmicrocontroller unit (MCU) from Texas Instruments. And examples ofsuitable manners according to which the aerosol delivery device may beconfigured to wirelessly communicate are disclosed in U.S. Pat. App.Pub. No. 2016/0007651 to Ampolini et al., and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No.2016/0219933 to Henry, Jr. et al., each of which is incorporated hereinby reference.

Still further components can be utilized in the aerosol delivery deviceof the present disclosure. One example of a suitable component is anindicator such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), quantum dot-based LEDsor the like, which may be illuminated with use of the aerosol deliverydevice. Examples of suitable LED components, and the configurations anduses thereof, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,192 to Sprinkel etal., U.S. Pat. No. 8,499,766 to Newton, U.S. Pat. No. 8,539,959 toScatterday, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,451,791 to Sears et al., all of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

Other indices of operation are also encompassed by the presentdisclosure. For example, visual indicators of operation also includechanges in light color or intensity to show progression of the smokingexperience. Tactile (haptic) indicators of operation and sound (audio)indicators of operation similarly are encompassed by the disclosure.Moreover, combinations of such indicators of operation also are suitableto be used in a single smoking article. According to another aspect, theaerosol delivery device may include one or more indicators or indicia,such as, for example, a display configured to provide informationcorresponding to the operation of the smoking article such as, forexample, the amount of power remaining in the power source, progressionof the smoking experience, indication corresponding to activating a heatsource, and/or the like.

Yet other components are also contemplated. For example, U.S. Pat. No.5,154,192 to Sprinkel et al. discloses indicators for smoking articles;U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,424 to Sprinkel, Jr. discloses piezoelectric sensorsthat can be associated with the mouth-end of a device to detect user lipactivity associated with taking a draw and then trigger heating of aheating device; U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,148 to McCafferty et al. discloses apuff sensor for controlling energy flow into a heating load array inresponse to pressure drop through a mouthpiece; U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,148to Harris et al. discloses receptacles in a smoking device that includean identifier that detects a non-uniformity in infrared transmissivityof an inserted component and a controller that executes a detectionroutine as the component is inserted into the receptacle; U.S. Pat. No.6,040,560 to Fleischhauer et al. describes a defined executable powercycle with multiple differential phases; U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,289 toWatkins et al. discloses photonic-optronic components; U.S. Pat. No.5,954,979 to Counts et al. discloses means for altering draw resistancethrough a smoking device; U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,545 to Blake et al.discloses specific battery configurations for use in smoking devices;U.S. Pat. No. 7,293,565 to Griffen et al. discloses various chargingsystems for use with smoking devices; U.S. Pat. No. 8,402,976 toFernando et al. discloses computer interfacing means for smoking devicesto facilitate charging and allow computer control of the device; U.S.Pat. No. 8,689,804 to Fernando et al. discloses identification systemsfor smoking devices; and PCT Pat. App. Pub. No. WO 2010/003480 by Flickdiscloses a fluid flow sensing system indicative of a puff in an aerosolgenerating system; all of the foregoing disclosures being incorporatedherein by reference.

Further examples of components related to electronic aerosol deliveryarticles and disclosing materials or components that may be used in thepresent article include U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,217 to Gerth et al., U.S.Pat. No. 5,249,586 to Morgan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,977 to Higginset al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,176 to Adams et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,287to White, U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,218 to Voges, U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,883 toFelter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,461 to Nichols, U.S. Pat. No.7,832,410 to Hon, U.S. Pat. No. 7,513,253 to Kobayashi, U.S. Pat. No.7,896,006 to Hamano, U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,756 to Shayan, U.S. Pat. Nos.8,156,944 and 8,375,957 to Hon, U.S. Pat. No. 8,794,231 to Thorens etal., U.S. Pat. No. 8,851,083 to Oglesby et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,915,254and 8,925,555 to Monsees et al., U.S. Pat. No. 9,220,302 to DePiano etal., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. Nos. 2006/0196518 and 2009/0188490 to Hon, U.S.Pat. App. Pub. No. 2010/0024834 to Oglesby et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub.No. 2010/0307518 to Wang, PCT Pat. App. Pub. No. WO 2010/091593 to Hon,and PCT Pat. App. Pub. No. WO 2013/089551 to Foo, each of which isincorporated herein by reference. Further, U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No.2017/0099877 to Worm et al., discloses capsules that may be included inaerosol delivery devices and fob-shape configurations for aerosoldelivery devices, and is incorporated herein by reference. A variety ofthe materials disclosed by the foregoing documents may be incorporatedinto the present devices in various implementations, and all of theforegoing disclosures are incorporated herein by reference.

Yet other features, controls or components that can be incorporated intoaerosol delivery devices of the present disclosure are described in U.S.Pat. No. 5,967,148 to Harris et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,289 to Watkinset al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,979 to Counts et al., U.S. Pat. No.6,040,560 to Fleischhauer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,365,742 to Hon, U.S.Pat. No. 8,402,976 to Fernando et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No.2005/0016550 to Katase, U.S. Pat. No. 8,689,804 to Fernando et al., U.S.Pat. App. Pub. No. 2013/0192623 to Tucker et al., U.S. Pat. No.9,427,022 to Leven et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2013/0180553 to Kimet al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2014/0000638 to Sebastian et al., U.S.Pat. App. Pub. No. 2014/0261495 to Novak et al., and U.S. Pat. No.9,220,302 to DePiano et al., all of which are incorporated herein byreference.

FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 illustrate implementations of an aerosol deliverydevice including a control body and an aerosol source member in the caseof a heat-not-burn device. For further detail regarding implementationsof an aerosol delivery device including a control body and a cartridgein the case of an electronic cigarette, see the above-cited U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/916,834 to Sur et al., as well as U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/916,696 to Sur, filed Mar. 9, 2018, which isalso incorporated herein by reference.

More specifically, FIG. 1 illustrates an aerosol delivery device 100according to an example implementation of the present disclosure. Theaerosol delivery device may include a control body 102 and an aerosolsource member 104. In various implementations, the aerosol source memberand the control body can be permanently or detachably aligned in afunctioning relationship. In this regard, FIG. 1 illustrates the aerosoldelivery device in a coupled configuration, whereas FIG. 2 illustratesthe aerosol delivery device in a decoupled configuration. Variousmechanisms may connect the aerosol source member to the control body toresult in a threaded engagement, a press-fit engagement, an interferencefit, a sliding fit, a magnetic engagement, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, in various implementations of the presentdisclosure, the aerosol source member 104 may comprise a heated end 206,which is configured to be inserted into the control body 102, and amouth end 208, upon which a user draws to create the aerosol. In variousimplementations, at least a portion of the heated end may include anaerosol precursor composition 210.

In various embodiments, the aerosol source member 104, or a portionthereof, may be wrapped in an overwrap material 212, which may be formedof any material useful for providing additional structure and/or supportfor the aerosol source member. In various implementations, the overwrapmaterial may comprise a material that resists transfer of heat, whichmay include a paper or other fibrous material, such as a cellulosematerial. The overwrap material may also include at least one fillermaterial imbedded or dispersed within the fibrous material. In variousimplementations, the filler material may have the form of waterinsoluble particles. Additionally, the filler material can incorporateinorganic components. In various implementations, the overwrap may beformed of multiple layers, such as an underlying, bulk layer and anoverlying layer, such as a typical wrapping paper in a cigarette. Suchmaterials may include, for example, lightweight “rag fibers” such asflax, hemp, sisal, rice straw, and/or esparto. The overwrap may alsoinclude a material typically used in a filter element of a conventionalcigarette, such as cellulose acetate. Further, an excess length of theoverwrap at the mouth end 208 of the aerosol source member may functionto simply separate the aerosol precursor composition 210 from the mouthof a consumer or to provide space for positioning of a filter material,as described below, or to affect draw on the article or to affect flowcharacteristics of the vapor or aerosol leaving the device during draw.Further discussion relating to the configurations for overwrap materialsthat may be used with the present disclosure may be found in theabove-cited U.S. Pat. No. 9,078,473 to Worm et al.

In various implementations other components may exist between theaerosol precursor composition 210 and the mouth end 208 of the aerosolsource member 104, wherein the mouth end may include a filter 214. Forexample, in some implementations one or any combination of the followingmay be positioned between the aerosol precursor composition and themouth end: an air gap; phase change materials for cooling air; flavorreleasing media; ion exchange fibers capable of selective chemicaladsorption; aerogel particles as filter medium; and other suitablematerials.

Various implementations of the present disclosure employ a conductiveheater to heat the aerosol precursor composition 210. The conductiveheater may comprise an electrical resistance heater in direct contactwith, or in proximity to, the aerosol source member and particularly,the aerosol precursor composition of the aerosol source member 104. Theelectrical resistance heater may be located in the control body and/orthe aerosol source member. In some instances, the aerosol precursorcomposition may include a structure in contact with, or a plurality ofbeads or particles imbedded in, or otherwise part of, the aerosolprecursor composition that may serve as, or facilitate the function ofthe heater.

FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of an aerosol delivery device 100according to an example implementation of the present disclosure, andFIG. 4 illustrates a sectional view through the aerosol delivery deviceof FIG. 3. In particular, the control body 102 of the depictedimplementation may comprise a housing 316 that includes an opening 318defined in an engaging end thereof, a flow sensor 320 (e.g., a puffsensor or pressure switch), a control component 322 (e.g., processingcircuitry, etc.), a power source 324 (e.g., a battery, which may be arechargeable battery, a SSB and/or a rechargeable supercapacitor), andan end cap that includes an indicator 326 (e.g., a LED).

In one implementation, the indicator 326 may comprise one or more LEDs,quantum dot-based LEDs or the like. The indicator can be incommunication with the control component 322 and be illuminated, forexample, when a user draws on the aerosol source member 104, whencoupled to the control body 102, as detected by the flow sensor 320.

The control body 102 of the depicted implementation includes one or moreheating assemblies 328 (individually or collectively referred to aheating assembly) configured to heat the aerosol precursor composition210 of the aerosol source member 104. The heating assembly of variousimplementations of the present disclosure may take a variety of forms.In the particular implementation depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4, the heatingassembly comprises an outer cylinder 330 and a segmented heater 332including a plurality of heating elements 334 such as a plurality ofelectrically-conductive prongs (heater prongs) that are physicallyseparate and spaced apart from one another. In some examples, each prongof the plurality of electrically-conductive prongs is a heating elementof the plurality of heating elements of the segmented heater. In anotherexample, the plurality of heating elements may be or includephysically-isolated resistive heating elements that may be positionedadjacent respective exterior surface regions of the aerosol sourcemember. In yet another example, the plurality of heating elements may beor include physically-isolated coils capable of producinglocalized/regionalized eddy currents in respective sections of theaerosol source member.

In examples in which the plurality of heating elements 334 are aplurality of heater prongs, these heater prongs may extend along andradially inward from an inner surface of the outer cylinder 330, andthereby lengthwise along the aerosol precursor composition 210. In thedepicted implementation, the outer cylinder comprises a double-walledvacuum tube constructed of stainless steel so as to maintain heatgenerated by the heating elements (e.g., heater prongs) within the outercylinder, and more particularly, maintain heat generated by heatingelements within the aerosol precursor composition. In variousimplementations, the heating elements may be constructed of one or moreconductive materials, including, but not limited to, copper, aluminum,platinum, gold, silver, iron, steel, brass, bronze, graphite, or anycombination thereof.

As illustrated, the heating assembly 328 may extend proximate anengagement end of the housing 316, and may be configured tosubstantially surround a portion of the heated end 206 of the aerosolsource member 104 that includes the aerosol precursor composition 210.In such a manner, the heating assembly may define a generally tubularconfiguration. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the segmented heater 332(e.g., plurality of heating elements 334) is surrounded by the outercylinder 330 to create a receiving chamber 336. In such a manner, invarious implementations the outer cylinder may comprise a nonconductiveinsulating material and/or construction including, but not limited to,an insulating polymer (e.g., plastic or cellulose), glass, rubber,ceramic, porcelain, a double-walled vacuum structure, or anycombinations thereof.

In some implementations, one or more portions or components of theheating assembly 328 may be combined with, packaged with, and/orintegral with (e.g., embedded within) the aerosol precursor composition210. For example, in some implementations the aerosol precursorcomposition may be formed of a material as described above and mayinclude one or more conductive materials mixed therein. In some of theseimplementations, contacts may be connected directly to the aerosolprecursor composition such that, when the aerosol source member isinserted into the receiving chamber 336 of the control body 102, thecontacts make electrical connection with the electrical energy source.Alternatively, the contacts may be integral with the electrical energysource and may extend into the receiving chamber such that, when theaerosol source member 104 is inserted into the receiving chamber of thecontrol body, the contacts make electrical connection with the aerosolprecursor composition. Because of the presence of the conductivematerial in the aerosol precursor composition, the application of powerfrom the electrical energy source to the aerosol precursor compositionallows electrical current to flow and thus produce heat from theconductive material. Thus, in some implementations the segmented heater332 may be described as being integral with the aerosol precursorcomposition. As a non-limiting example, graphite or other suitable,conductive material may be mixed with, embedded in, or otherwise presentdirectly on or within the material forming the aerosol precursorcomposition to make the segmented heater integral with the medium.

As noted above, in the illustrated implementation, the outer cylinder330 may also serve to facilitate proper positioning of the aerosolsource member 104 when the aerosol source member is inserted into thehousing 316. In various implementations, the outer cylinder of theheating assembly 328 may engage an internal surface of the housing toprovide for alignment of the heating assembly with respect to thehousing. Thereby, as a result of the fixed coupling between the heatingassembly, a longitudinal axis of the heating assembly may extendsubstantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the housing. Inparticular, the outer cylinder may extend from the opening 318 of thehousing to a receiving base 338 to create the receiving chamber 336.

The heated end 206 of the aerosol source member 104 is sized and shapedfor insertion into the control body 102. In various implementations, thereceiving chamber 336 of the control body may be characterized as beingdefined by a wall with an inner surface and an outer surface, the innersurface defining the interior volume of the receiving chamber. Forexample, in the depicted implementations, the outer cylinder 330 definesan inner surface defining the interior volume of the receiving chamber.In the illustrated implementation, an inner diameter of the outercylinder may be slightly larger than or approximately equal to an outerdiameter of a corresponding aerosol source member (e.g., to create asliding fit) such that the outer cylinder is configured to guide theaerosol source member into the proper position (e.g., lateral position)with respect to the control body. Thus, the largest outer diameter (orother dimension depending upon the specific cross-sectional shape of theimplementations) of the aerosol source member may be sized to be lessthan the inner diameter (or other dimension) at the inner surface of thewall of the open end of the receiving chamber in the control body. Insome implementations, the difference in the respective diameters may besufficiently small so that the aerosol source member fits snugly intothe receiving chamber, and frictional forces prevent the aerosol sourcemember from being moved without an applied force. On the other hand, thedifference may be sufficient to allow the aerosol source member to slideinto or out of the receiving chamber without requiring undue force.

In the illustrated implementation, the control body 102 is configuredsuch that when the aerosol source member 104 is inserted into thecontrol body, the segmented heater 332 (e.g., heating elements 334)extends inward to at least the approximate radial center of at least aportion of the aerosol precursor composition 210 of the heated end 206of the aerosol source member. In such a manner, when used in conjunctionwith a solid or semi-solid aerosol precursor composition, the heatingelements may be in direct contact with the aerosol precursorcomposition.

During use, the consumer initiates heating of the heating assembly 328,and in particular, the segmented heater 332 that is adjacent the aerosolprecursor composition 210 (or a specific layer thereof). Heating of theaerosol precursor composition releases the inhalable substance withinthe aerosol source member 104 so as to yield the inhalable substance.When the consumer inhales on the mouth end 208 of the aerosol sourcemember, air is drawn into the aerosol source member through an airintake 340 such as openings or apertures in the control body 102. Thecombination of the drawn air and the released inhalable substance isinhaled by the consumer as the drawn materials exit the mouth end of theaerosol source member. In some implementations, to initiate heating, theconsumer may manually actuate a pushbutton or similar component thatcauses the segmented heater of the heating assembly to receiveelectrical energy from the battery or other energy source. Theelectrical energy may be supplied for a pre-determined length of time ormay be manually controlled.

In some implementations, flow of electrical energy does notsubstantially proceed in between puffs on the device 100 (althoughenergy flow may proceed to maintain a baseline temperature greater thanambient temperature—e.g., a temperature that facilitates rapid heatingto the active heating temperature). In the depicted implementation,however, heating is initiated by the puffing action of the consumerthrough use of one or more sensors, such as flow sensor 320. Once thepuff is discontinued, heating will stop or be reduced. When the consumerhas taken a sufficient number of puffs so as to have released asufficient amount of the inhalable substance (e.g., an amount sufficientto equate to a typical smoking experience), the aerosol source member104 may be removed from the control body 102 and discarded. In someimplementations, further sensing elements, such as capacitive sensingelements and other sensors, may be used as discussed in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/707,461 to Phillips et al., which isincorporated herein by reference.

In various implementations, the aerosol source member 104 may be formedof any material suitable for forming and maintaining an appropriateconformation, such as a tubular shape, and for retaining therein theaerosol precursor composition 210. In some implementations, the aerosolsource member may be formed of a single wall or, in otherimplementations, multiple walls, and may be formed of a material(natural or synthetic) that is heat resistant so as to retain itsstructural integrity—e.g., does not degrade—at least at a temperaturethat is the heating temperature provided by the electrical heatingelement, as further discussed herein. While in some implementations, aheat resistant polymer may be used, in other implementations, theaerosol source member may be formed from paper, such as a paper that issubstantially straw-shaped. As further discussed herein, the aerosolsource member may have one or more layers associated therewith thatfunction to substantially prevent movement of vapor therethrough. In oneexample implementation, an aluminum foil layer may be laminated to onesurface of the aerosol source member. Ceramic materials also may beused. In further implementations, an insulating material may be used soas not to unnecessarily move heat away from the aerosol precursorcomposition. Further example types of components and materials that maybe used to provide the functions described above or be used asalternatives to the materials and components noted above can be those ofthe types set forth in U.S. Pat. App. Pub. Nos. 2010/00186757 to Crookset al., 2010/00186757 to Crooks et al., and 2011/0041861 to Sebastian etal., all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

In the depicted implementation, the control body 102 includes a controlcomponent 322 that controls the various functions of the aerosoldelivery device 100, including providing power to the segmented heater332. For example, the control component may include processing circuitry(which may be connected to further components, as further describedherein) that is connected by electrically conductive wires (not shown)to the power source 324. In various implementations, the processingcircuitry may control when and how the heating assembly 328, andparticularly the heating elements 334, receives electrical energy toheat the aerosol precursor composition 210 for release of the inhalablesubstance for inhalation by a consumer. In some implementations, suchcontrol may be activated by a flow sensor 320 as described in greaterdetail above.

As seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the heating assembly 328 of the depictedimplementation comprises an outer cylinder 330 and a segmented heater332 (e.g., plurality of heating elements 334) that extend along theouter cylinder 330. In some implementations, such as the depictedimplementation wherein the aerosol precursor composition 210 comprises asolid or semi-solid, the plurality of heating elements are configured topenetrate into the aerosol precursor composition contained in the heatedend 206 of the aerosol source member 104 when the aerosol source memberis inserted into the control body 102. In such implementations, one ormore of the components of the heating assembly, including the heatingelements, may be constructed of a non-stick or stick-resistant material,for example, certain aluminum, copper, stainless steel, carbon steel,and ceramic materials. In other implementations, one or more of thecomponents of the heating assembly, including the heating elements, mayinclude a non-stick coating, including, for example, apolytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating, such as Teflon®, or othercoatings, such as a stick-resistant enamel coating, or a ceramiccoating, such as Greblon®, or Thermolon™, or a ceramic coating, such asGreblon®, or Thermolon™.

In addition, although in the depicted implementation there are multipleheating elements 334 that are substantially equally distributed alongthe outer cylinder 330, it should be noted that in otherimplementations, any number of heater prongs may be used, including asfew as two, with any other suitable spatial configuration. Furthermore,in various implementations the length of the heating elements may vary.For example, in some implementations the heating elements may comprisesmall projections, while in other implementations the heating elementsmay extend any portion of the diameter of the outer cylinder, includingup to about 25%, up to about 50%, up to about 75%, and up to about thefull diameter of the outer cylinder. In still other implementations, theheating assembly 328 may take on other configurations. Examples of otherheater configurations that may be adapted for use in the presentdisclosure per the discussion provided above can be found in U.S. Pat.No. 5,060,671 to Counts et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,894 to Deevi et al.,U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,498 to Deevi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,460 toSprinkel Jr., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,075 to Deevi et al., U.S. Pat.No. 5,353,813 to Deevi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,936 to Deevi et al.,U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,850 to Das, U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,656 to Das, U.S.Pat. No. 5,498,855 to Deevi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,225 toHajaligol, U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,262 to Hajaligol, U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,692to Das et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,368 to Fleischhauer et al., whichare incorporated herein by reference. An even further example of anotherheater configuration that may be adapted for use in the presentdisclosure can be found in PCT Pat. App. Pub. No. WO 2017/153467 toReevell, which is incorporated herein by reference.

In various implementations, the control body 102 may include an airintake 340 (e.g., one or more openings or apertures) therein forallowing entrance of ambient air into the interior of the receivingchamber 336. In such a manner, in some implementations the receivingbase 338 may also include an air intake. Thus, in some implementationswhen a consumer draws on the mouth end of the aerosol source member 104,air can be drawn through the air intake of the control body and thereceiving base into the receiving chamber, pass into the aerosol sourcemember, and be drawn through the aerosol precursor composition 210 ofthe aerosol source member for inhalation by the consumer. In someimplementations, the drawn air carries the inhalable substance throughthe optional filter 214 and out of an opening at the mouth end 208 ofthe aerosol source member. With the segmented heater 332 positionedinside the aerosol precursor composition, the heating elements 334 maybe activated to heat the aerosol precursor composition and cause releaseof the inhalable substance through the aerosol source member.

Other implementations of the aerosol delivery device, control body andaerosol source member are described in the above-cited U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/916,834 to Sur et al., and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/916,696 to Sur.

As described above, the aerosol delivery device of exampleimplementations may include circuitry in the context of either anelectronic cigarette or a heat-not-burn device, or even in the case of adevice that includes the functionality of both. FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 arecircuit diagrams of aerosol delivery devices according to variousexample implementations of the present disclosure. More particularly,FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are circuit diagrams of the aerosol delivery device 100shown and described above in the context of a heat-not-burn device,according to some example implementations of the present disclosure. Itshould be understood that the circuit diagrams are equally applicable toaerosol delivery devices in the context of electronic cigarettes. Itshould also be understood that the circuits depicted in the circuitdiagrams may include additional or alternative components in variousexample implementations, including additional components such as thosedescribed elsewhere herein.

As shown in FIG. 5, the aerosol delivery device 100 includes a segmentedheater 332 including a plurality of heating elements 334 that areseparately powerable to heat and thereby vaporize components of aerosolprecursor composition 210. The aerosol delivery device also includes acontrol component 322 coupled to and configured to separately,controllably power the plurality of heating elements of the segmentedheater. As also shown, the control component includes a logic circuit502 coupled to the segmented heater, and including a data input 504 anda plurality of outputs 506 each output of which is coupled to arespective one of the plurality of heating elements of the segmentedheater.

The control component 322 also includes a processor 508 configured toproduce a logic signal 510 as a waveform that switches between a highvoltage level and a low voltage level that represent respectively afirst value and a second value. In some examples, the first value andsecond value are binary values such as respectively binary 1 and binary0. In other examples, the values may be values of numeral systems havinga base other than base-2, such as base-8 (octal values), base-10(decimal values) or base-16 (hexadecimal values), or values of otherencodings of numbers such as binary-coded decimal (BCD). The processoris coupled and configured to provide the logic signal including at leastthe first value to the data input 504 of the logic circuit 502 and causethe logic circuit to provide the first value and thereby the highvoltage level at one or more outputs of the plurality of outputs 506 ofthe logic circuit. The processor is thereby configured to powerrespective one or more heating elements of the plurality of heatingelements 334 of the segmented heater 332 to heat and thereby vaporizecomponents of the aerosol precursor composition 210, any other heatingelements of the plurality of heating elements being simultaneouslyunpowered.

In some examples, the aerosol delivery device 100 further includes asensor 512 (or one or more sensors) such as a sense resistor coupled tothe plurality of outputs 506 and configured to measure voltage orcurrent to heating elements of the plurality of heating elements 334 ofthe segmented heater 332. This sensor may enable a safety feature of theprocessor 508 to prevent damage to the aerosol delivery device caused bya surge in voltage or current, and may also enable further developmentor debugging of the device.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example in which the logic circuit 502 is ademultiplexer 602 including the data input 504 and the plurality ofoutputs 506, and further including one or more selection inputs 604. Inthis example, the processor 508 is further coupled to the selectioninput(s) and configured to select via the selection input(s) theoutput(s) of the demultiplexer and thereby cause the demultiplexer toprovide the first value and thereby the high voltage level at theoutput(s). In some further examples, the processor is configured toselect no more than one of the output(s) and thereby cause thedemultiplexer to provide the first value and thereby the high voltagelevel at no more than one of the output(s). In some examples, the firstvalue and the second value are respective binary values, and theplurality of heating elements 334 are N heating elements arranged in asequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N. To select the output(s), then, theprocessor may be configured to provide binary numbers 2^(n) in thesequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N to the selection input(s) and thereby selectindividual ones of the plurality of outputs in the sequence and each fora defined time interval.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example in which the logic circuit 502 is alatched serial-in parallel-out (SIPO) shift register 702 including thedata input 504 and the plurality of outputs 506, and further including alatch input 704. In this example, the logic signal 510 represents digitseach of which has the first value or the second value. To provide thelogic signal, then, the processor 508 may be configured to provide thedigits serially to the data input. The latched SIPO shift register maybe responsive and thereby caused to simultaneously provide the digits inparallel at the plurality of outputs, including one or more of thedigits having the first value and thereby the high voltage level beingprovided at the output(s). In some further examples, the digits that thelatched SIPO shift register is responsive to simultaneously provide inparallel include no more than one digit having the first value. Similarto described above, in some examples in which the plurality of heatingelements are N heating elements arranged in a sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . .N, the digits are bits each of which has the first value or the secondvalue that are respective binary values. Here, to provide the digits,the processor may be configured to provide the bits representing binarynumbers 2^(n) in series and the sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, each for adefined time interval.

To further illustrate implementations in which the logic circuit 502 isa SIPO shift register 702 and the digits are bits each of which has thefirst value (e.g., binary 1) or the second value (e.g., binary 0),consider an example in which the segmented heater 332 includes eightheating elements 334, and the SIPO shift register includes acorresponding eight outputs 506. The SIPO shift register may include aclock input to clock bits into the shift register. Eight bits may belatched into the shift register and then output simultaneously inparallel. The SIPO shift register may also include a voltage inputsupplied with 5 volts (V) from a power source 324, either directly orthrough a buck or boost converter configured to respectively step downor step up voltage from the power source. A ground of the SIPO shiftregister may be connected to the ground of the processor 508.

The processor 508 may be configured to provide a sequence of eight bitvalues to set the value of the parallel outputs 506. The sequence is thesupply voltage to the various heating elements 334 of the segmentedheater 332. One example of a suitable sequence is binary 1 for the highvoltage level (5 V) to power a first of the heating elements for twoseconds (other heating elements unpowered), then binary 1 for the highvoltage level to power a second of the heating elements for two seconds(other heating elements unpowered), and so forth through a last of theheating elements for two seconds. This sequence may be interruptedbetween puffs on the aerosol delivery device 100. The processor maytherefore maintain a count that is incremented or decremented as theprocessor steps through the sequence, which enables the processor tostart from the next heating element in the sequence on a puff instead ofsimply resetting to the first heating element. The processor may resetto the first heating element after stepping through all of the heatingelements. FIG. 8 illustrate voltages at the outputs of the SIPO shiftregister for the following sequence of eight bit values:

10000000

01000000

00100000

00010000

00001000

00000100

00000010

00000001

As described above, the above-described circuitry is applicable toaerosol delivery devices in the context of either an electroniccigarette or a heat-not-burn device, or even in the case of a devicethat includes the functionality of both. In the context of an electroniccigarette, the aerosol delivery device may include a control body and acartridge. The cartridge can be formed of a housing (sometimes referredto as the cartridge shell) enclosing a plurality of reservoirsconfigured to retain aerosol precursor composition (e.g., liquid aerosolprecursor composition), which may be the same or different in variousones of the reservoirs. Each of the reservoirs also includes arespective heating element of a plurality of heating elements of asegmented heater. In various configurations, this structure may bereferred to as a tank; and accordingly, the terms “cartridge,” “tank”and the like may be used interchangeably to refer to a shell or otherhousing enclosing reservoirs for aerosol precursor composition, andincluding heating elements of a segmented heater.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating various operations in a method 900 ofcontrolling an aerosol delivery device including a housing structured toretain an aerosol precursor composition, a segmented heater including aplurality of heating elements that are separately powerable to heat andthereby vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition,according to various example implementations. As shown at block 902, themethod includes producing a logic signal as a waveform that switchesbetween a high voltage level and a low voltage level that representrespectively a first value and a second value. The method includesproviding the logic signal including at least the first value to a datainput of a logic circuit including the data input and a plurality ofoutputs each output of which is coupled to a respective one of theplurality of heating elements of the segmented heater, as shown at block904. The method also includes causing the logic circuit to provide thefirst value and thereby the high voltage level at one or more outputs ofthe plurality of outputs of the logic circuit, and thereby poweringrespective one or more heating elements of the plurality of heatingelements of the segmented heater to heat and thereby vaporize componentsof the aerosol precursor composition, any other heating elements of theplurality of heating elements being simultaneously unpowered.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure will cometo mind to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertainshaving the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoingdescriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to beunderstood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specificimplementations disclosed herein and that modifications and otherimplementations are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. An aerosol delivery device comprising: a housingstructured to retain an aerosol precursor composition; a segmentedheater including a plurality of heating elements that are separatelypowerable to heat and thereby vaporize components of the aerosolprecursor composition; and a control component coupled to and configuredto separately, controllably power the plurality of heating elements ofthe segmented heater, the control component including: a logic circuitcoupled to the segmented heater, the logic circuit including a datainput and a plurality of outputs each output of which is coupled to arespective one of the plurality of heating elements of the segmentedheater; and a processor configured to produce a logic signal as awaveform that switches between a high voltage level and a low voltagelevel that represent respectively a first value and a second value, theprocessor being coupled and configured to provide the logic signalincluding at least the first value to the data input of the logiccircuit and cause the logic circuit to provide the first value andthereby the high voltage level at one or more outputs of the pluralityof outputs of the logic circuit, and thereby power respective one ormore heating elements of the plurality of heating elements of thesegmented heater to heat and thereby vaporize components of the aerosolprecursor composition, any other heating elements of the plurality ofheating elements being simultaneously unpowered.
 2. The aerosol deliverydevice of claim 1, wherein the aerosol precursor composition is aliquid, or a solid or semi-solid.
 3. The aerosol delivery device ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of heating elements are a plurality ofelectrically-conductive prongs that are physically separate and spacedapart from one another.
 4. The aerosol delivery device of claim 3,wherein the aerosol precursor composition is a solid or semi-solid, andthe plurality of electrically-conductive prongs are physically separateand spaced apart lengthwise along the solid or semi-solid.
 5. Theaerosol delivery device of claim 1, wherein the logic circuit is ademultiplexer including the data input and the plurality of outputs, andfurther including one or more selection inputs, and wherein theprocessor is further coupled to the one or more selection inputs andconfigured to select via the one or more selection inputs the one ormore outputs of the demultiplexer and thereby cause the demultiplexer toprovide the first value and thereby the high voltage level at the one ormore outputs.
 6. The aerosol delivery device of claim 5, wherein theprocessor is configured to select no more than one of the one or moreoutputs and thereby cause the demultiplexer to provide the first valueand thereby the high voltage level at no more than one of the one ormore outputs.
 7. The aerosol delivery device of claim 5, wherein thefirst value and the second value are respective binary values, theplurality of heating elements are N heating elements arranged in asequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, and the processor being configured toselect the one or more outputs includes being configured to providebinary numbers 2^(n) in the sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N to the one ormore selection inputs and thereby select individual ones of theplurality of outputs in the sequence and each for a defined timeinterval.
 8. The aerosol delivery device of claim 1, wherein the logiccircuit is a latched serial-in parallel-out (SIPO) shift register, andwherein the logic signal represents digits each of which has the firstvalue or the second value, and the processor being configured to providethe logic signal includes being configured to provide the digitsserially to the data input, the latched SIPO shift register beingresponsive and thereby caused to simultaneously provide the digits inparallel at the plurality of outputs, including one or more of thedigits having the first value and thereby the high voltage level beingprovided at the one or more outputs.
 9. The aerosol delivery device ofclaim 8, wherein the digits that the latched SIPO shift register isresponsive to simultaneously provide in parallel include no more thanone digit having the first value.
 10. The aerosol delivery device ofclaim 8, wherein the digits are bits each of which has the first valueor the second value that are respective binary values, the plurality ofheating elements are N heating elements arranged in a sequence n=1, 2,3, . . . N, and the processor being configured to provide the digitsincludes being configured to provide the bits representing binarynumbers 2^(n) in series and the sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, each for adefined time interval.
 11. The aerosol delivery device of claim 1further comprising a sensor coupled to the plurality of outputs andconfigured to measure voltage or current to heating elements of theplurality of heating elements of the segmented heater.
 12. A method ofcontrolling an aerosol delivery device including a housing structured toretain an aerosol precursor composition, a segmented heater including aplurality of heating elements that are separately powerable to heat andthereby vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition, themethod comprising: producing a logic signal as a waveform that switchesbetween a high voltage level and a low voltage level that representrespectively a first value and a second value; providing the logicsignal including at least the first value to a data input of a logiccircuit including the data input and a plurality of outputs each outputof which is coupled to a respective one of the plurality of heatingelements of the segmented heater; and causing the logic circuit toprovide the first value and thereby the high voltage level at one ormore outputs of the plurality of outputs of the logic circuit, andthereby powering respective one or more heating elements of theplurality of heating elements of the segmented heater to heat andthereby vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition, anyother heating elements of the plurality of heating elements beingsimultaneously unpowered.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein poweringrespective one or more heating elements includes powering respective oneor more heating elements to heat and thereby vaporize components of theaerosol precursor composition that is a liquid, or a solid orsemi-solid.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein powering respective oneor more heating elements includes powering respective one or moreheating elements of the plurality of heating elements that are aplurality of electrically-conductive prongs that are physically separateand spaced apart from one another.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereinpowering respective one or more heating elements includes poweringrespective one or more heating elements to heat and thereby vaporizecomponents of the aerosol precursor composition that is a solid orsemi-solid, and the plurality of electrically-conductive prongs arephysically separate and spaced apart lengthwise along the solid orsemi-solid.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the logic circuit is ademultiplexer including the data input and the plurality of outputs, andfurther including one or more selection inputs, and wherein the methodfurther comprises selecting via the one or more selection inputs the oneor more outputs of the demultiplexer and thereby causing thedemultiplexer to provide the first value and thereby the high voltagelevel at the one or more outputs.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinselecting the one or more outputs includes selecting no more than one ofthe one or more outputs and thereby causing the demultiplexer to providethe first value and thereby the high voltage level at no more than oneof the one or more outputs.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein thefirst value and the second value are respective binary values, theplurality of heating elements are N heating elements arranged in asequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, and selecting the one or more outputsincludes providing binary numbers 2^(n) in the sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . .N to the one or more selection inputs and thereby selecting individualones of the plurality of outputs in the sequence and each for a definedtime interval.
 19. The method of claim 12, wherein the logic circuit isa latched serial-in parallel-out (SIPO) shift register, and wherein thelogic signal represents digits each of which has the first value or thesecond value, and providing the logic signal includes providing thedigits serially to the data input, the latched SIPO shift register beingresponsive and thereby caused to simultaneously provide the digits inparallel at the plurality of outputs, including one or more of thedigits having the first value and thereby the high voltage level beingprovided at the one or more outputs.
 20. The method of claim 19, whereinthe digits that the latched SIPO shift register is responsive tosimultaneously provide in parallel include no more than one digit havingthe first value.
 21. The method of claim 19, wherein the digits are bitseach of which has the first value or the second value that arerespective binary values, the plurality of heating elements are Nheating elements arranged in a sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, andproviding the digits includes providing the bits representing numbers2^(n) in series and the sequence n=1, 2, 3, . . . N, each for a definedtime interval.